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Helmut Oberlander plans to fight after losing appeal of deportation order

Helmut Oberlander has battled Ottawa for 20 years over his status, was denied a review of an order-in-council stripping him of his citizenship.

Helmut Oberlander, shown in 2004, and Ottawa have been in a legal battle over his status for 20 years. He has been stripped of his Canadian citizenship and ordered deported. (Mathew McCarthy / The Record)

An elderly Kitchener-Waterloo developer facing deportation over his connection to a Nazi killing unit will appeal a recent Federal Court decision dismissing his application for a judicial review, his lawyer says.

Helmut Oberlander, who is about 90, was seeking a review of a 2012 federal order-in-council stripping him of his citizenship.

Oberlander and Ottawa have been in a legal battle over his status for 20 years, and the case could eventually make its way to the Supreme Court of Canada.

His family says he has never been charged with any war crime by Ottawa and maintains he wasn’t a Nazi. He is, however, on the 2014 Simon Wiesenthal Centre list of most-wanted Nazi war criminals.

Oberlander says he was conscripted under duress into a Nazi death squad that operated behind the German army’s front line in the eastern occupied territories during the Second World War.

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He maintains he served only as a translator in the unit — the EK10A, which conducted mass executions of Jews and other civilians — and never participated in any killings.

A request for an interview with Oberlander about the Federal Court’s recent decision was turned down, but his lawyer, Ronald Poulton, provided a written statement from Oberlander’s daughter, Irene Rooney.

“My dad is holding out, but it has been a long and difficult journey of 20 years, with many ups and downs,” she said.

“The last year and a half has been especially tough, since he lost his wife of 62 years to cancer, but he will carry on because he wants to see justice done and wants his good name restored. This is very important to him. He believes the government is engaging in a ‘malicious prosecution.’ He is grateful to his family and many supporters for their help.”

Oberlander and his wife came to Canada in 1954, and he became a citizen six years later. He did not disclose his wartime experience on his citizenship application.

The legal case against Oberlander began in 1995. In 2001, he was stripped of his citizenship by the federal cabinet, after a court found he had lied about his service as an interpreter with the Nazi death squad.

The Federal Court of Appeal overturned that ruling in 2004 and asked cabinet to reconsider.

In 2007, Oberlander once more faced a deportation hearing and had his citizenship revoked. In 2009, the Federal Court of Appeal ruled that the federal cabinet must again revisit the decision to strip Oberlander of his citizenship and consider whether he was forced to join the Nazis under duress.

Then in December 2012, Ottawa filed another order-in-council to revoke his citizenship. The move was challenged by Oberlander in Federal Court, and two weeks ago Justice James Russell issued an 88-page decision dismissing the application.

“The whole story is filled with pathos and irony,” said Bernie Farber, former CEO of the Canadian Jewish Congress and a human rights advocate. “He very clearly lied on his citizenship application. It would have made him ineligible for citizenship. Yet instead we’re coming up to another appeal.

“My guess is he’ll live the rest of his life in Canada. . . . He never took a scintilla of responsibility for anything, and I think for the most part that has turned so many against him. He refused to recognize that he was a participant in an evil or illegal organization.

“The fact of the matter is, he participated in one of the most ruthless and brutal killing units in modern history and omitted that from his citizenship application, and that is a crime. There are people today that have lied on their citizenship papers and have been deported almost immediately, but this man has had 20 years to stay in this country.

“There is something unequal about the system . . . we’re at fault for making the system so cumbersome that even someone who quite clearly misrepresented himself and quite clearly broke the law is still here 20 years later.”

Kevin Menard, a spokesman for Citizenship Minister Chris Alexander, praised the court decision. “Our long-standing position has not changed,” he said. “We will revoke citizenship from individuals who obtain it fraudulently, to ensure that Canada is not a safe haven for fraudsters and criminals.”

Canada has revoked citizenship in seven Second World War-era cases for war crimes or crimes against humanity, according to Citizenship and Immigration.

Under the Citizenship Act it can revoke citizenship for obtaining, retaining or resuming citizenship by false representation, fraud or by knowingly concealing material circumstances.

Note – February 26, 2015: The headline on this article was edited from a previous version to make clear Helmut Oberlander has never been charged by the federal government with any war crime.

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